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A Year with Confucius

Theme: understanding

2 reflections tagged with "understanding"

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Day 64
patienceimperfectionunderstanding

Patience with the Imperfect

Confucius makes a counterintuitive observation: you can learn about someone's fundamental orientation—their humaneness—by observing the kind of mistakes they make. A generous person may err by giving too much; a cautious person may err by holding back. Faults reveal the grain of a person's character, not just their failings.

Day 75
understandingwholenessdiscernment

Seeing the Whole Person

Confucius offers a three-layered approach to understanding someone: look at their actions, their reasons, and their deepest satisfactions. Together, these reveal the whole person—not just the surface behavior. The rhetorical question—'How can they hide?'—suggests that patient attention uncovers truth.